Do Consumers Really Want Retail Stores to Open On Christmas?

Who wants to wait until the Day after Christmas to make returns or start spending those gift cards they received? Why not throw open the doors on Christmas Day, am I right? (Please tell me I’m wrong.) That’s apparently the sentiment that consumers—particularly millennials—shared in a new LoyaltyOne Consulting report released on Thursday.

When 1,267 American consumers were asked in November what they would do if retailers opened for business starting at 6pm on Christmas Day—not unlike what many big box stores started doing a few years ago now on Thanksgiving—18 percent said they would take advantage of the extra time to shop. When the data was focused on consumers between the ages of 18 and 24 that number jumped to 30 percent. And among older millennials (ages 25-34) another 27 percent said they’d gladly head out to the mall or other retail locations on Christmas Day.

As for the other side of that coin, 24 percent of the general pool of respondents were against the idea of shopping on Christmas and that they would be less likely to shop at a store, or even recommend a store to friends or family, in the future if it were to open its doors on December 25.

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